Not only do books influence authors, TV and movies do as well

What inspires you to write? A book that you read that you loved? A movie scene that gave you all the feels? A song that made you pull the car over? A dream that stayed with you all day until you typed out all the details?

All of these things have happened to me and more than once. No judgments as I tell you a little bit about the TV shows and Movies that inspired my writing.

Now this one is going way back to when I was a kid. Way back to when I’d carry a beat up notebook and two pencils around with me everywhere I went. You know, just in case inspiration struck. I was ten or twelve when I discoved Are You Afraid of the Dark on Nickolodeon and I.ate.it.up. Every week I’d watch and take notes of what the episode was about. And then I’d re-enact the episode with my kid brother. And then I’d try and write something similar.

This particular episode (see right) was one of my favorites and inspired countless ghost stories. For those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to see this; the episode is about a girl who discovers a missing girl trapped within the mirror inside the empty house next door. Like …. that is genius on so many levels. That episode alone triggered a fascination with ghosts, empty and abandoned houses and cool bedrooms. I wrote stories about ghosts at baseball fields, ghosts in woods, ghosts frigging everywhere. Over twenty five years later, I wrote a story including a ghost of a friend.

I feel like you should have seen it coming that Twilight would make my list. For the record, I did not jump on this bandwagon the moment it started. In fact, I repelled it. I stayed away as long as I could. A friend brought it over one night when we were both away from our boyfriends. And that was it. I was hooked. In ways other than writing inspiration – I own and read all the books. Seen and own the movies. Watched said movies with my 9 year old.

And my favorite – I had this sticker on the back window of my car until I traded it in – well after I had my child. I had to explain it to everyone I encountered but I loved it.

As for inspiration, I wrote a YA novel after reading Twilight and it’s my longest novel ever! There are portions of the movies that I watch and giggle to myself because I know they’ve pressed upon me so much.

There have been tons of movie scenes and TV that have been an inspiration to me over the many years I’ve been writing. These are just a couple of them.

I will let you in one little secret. Again, no judgments. Favorites always seem to come back around to us, don’t they?